Davis’ Departure Ushers In an Exciting Future For The Golden State Warriors

If this young core is to develop as a cohesive unit in the future that complements each other and builds off their collective strengths, they need to play more efficient basketball. The main reason is that they do not have a legitimate post scoring threat in the way Parker has Duncan or Paul has David West. So ball movement, speed, and execution are much more important for the Warriors and they were not getting that from Davis.

For those that question Monta Ellis’ ability to take the reigns and run the point, I think too much emphasis is placed upon some nebulous definition of what it means to be a “pure point guard”. Clearly, there’s little support that Davis is a pure point guard by any stretch of the imagination – he’s a combo guard at best…possibly a scoring guard with point guard skills. But then, check out Chris Paul’s numbers – he’s not exactly what we traditionally consider a “pure point” either as he scored 21 points per game, albeit much more efficiently than Davis.

It’s about building a system, not filling traditional positions

There are many different ways to be a playoff point guard in this league and there’s no reason Ellis couldn’t eventually become one. He’s still only 22 and is already an extremely efficient scorer. He may not be the type of point guard that has Jason Kidd instincts that lead to highlight reel passes, but he can get the ball up the court in a hurry and get the team in the offense and pick his spots to score.

What the Warriors could do instead of focusing on filling the hole that Baron left is think about how to best complement the guys that are going to lead them into the future. If the complaint is that Monta is a sub-par distributor, then perhaps the answer is to focus on team ball movement instead of relying on the point guard to make plays.

There is no reason that Monta cannot be as effective as a point guard as Mike Bibby. Bibby in Sacramento had play makers all around him (Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and even Doug Christie to some extent), which meant that he could be a scorer. You could say much the same about the Spurs who have a number of good ball handlers and passers around Duncan and Parker.

Nellie’s small ball had taken this team as far as it was going to go and that unfortunately is not good enough for a playoff berth in the west. If the Warriors hope to make the playoffs again within the next decade, they have to play better team basketball than their opponents. That means playing more efficiently and constructing a more balanced roster. Letting Davis walk could be a step toward a more efficient future in which the Warriors play better team basketball.

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